


Six Months

by DamnScribblingWoman52



Category: The Flash
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-25 05:18:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12028947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DamnScribblingWoman52/pseuds/DamnScribblingWoman52
Summary: The hard part is over. Or is it?





	1. Chapter 1

Six months. In the grand scheme of things, six months was not a long time.

But as far as Iris was concerned, six months changed everything. And as hard as she tried to pretend things were normal…

Barry knew they weren't.

At first, when he returned from the Speedforce, he was so overwhelmed with existing simply in the same space as his love that everything seemed the same as before he left. Well, at least the few hours of normalcy between defeating Savitar, mourning H.R., and the oncoming apocalypse had afforded them.

Time moved and felt different in the Speedforce. In some ways it had felt like he had only been gone a short time, but most of the time time slowed to a crawl and Barry was excruciatingly aware of the time he was losing being Central City's savior, a teammate, a mentor, a friend, a son, and most importantly a fiancée.

His reunification with his friends, family, and most importantly Iris had been the first time Barry felt like he could breathe in so long. As long as he lived, he'd never be able to thank Cisco for never giving up on him. He and Joe and held each other in an embrace for so long the people around them began to laugh.

It was either that or cry.

His whole team had been there for his return: Joe, Wally, Cisco, Gypsy, Julian, and even a subdued Caitlyn; newly learning what life was going to be like now that she was no longer simply Caitlyn, but Killer Frost too.

But there was only one person his heart physically ached for.

Barry could see Iris in the periphery of is vision as he greeted and hugged everyone else first. It had been the same before he had gone into the Speedforce. He had to acknowledge his friends first because Iris would soon eclipse anything else for him.

After lastly shaking Julian's hand, Barry had finally turned to Iris. His Iris. His everything. He could already feel the tears brimming in his eyes and he had yet to even approach her. In the midst of the tears he couldn't stop the all-encompassing grin from stretching over his face.

He was back with his other half, and their lives together could finally move forward.

He was so ready to make her Iris West-Allen.

Barry was torn between wanting to simply stand and stare at his love; soaking up the beautiful sight of her and closing the distance between them.

The second option won out.

Without conscience thought, Barry sped the remaining four feet to Iris. Somewhere in the back of his mind he registered that it seemed slightly odd that she had chosen to hang back from the group, and that his speed in getting to her had startled her enough to cause her to moved back a few steps. But none of those detail mattered. Barry simply closed his eyes for a second and forced himself to take a deep breath. He wanted to remember everything about the moment and wouldn't be able to do that if he sped through the moment like part of him longed to do. There was nothing he wanted more than to speed Iris away to their apartment and kiss her over every inch of her beautiful body.

Barry breathed deeply again, halting his train of thought before he embarrassed himself in front of their friends. He slowly opened his eyes and refocused on a still surprised-looking Iris. His eyes softened and a wave of tenderness swept over him; stronger even than the ever-present ache he possessed to reconnect with her physically.

He stepped to her slowly and he could fee his smile broadening with every step closer to her he took. Once again, in the back of his mind a red flag arose when Iris remained glued to one spot, looking at him with a swirl of conflicting emotions, but the warning was so minor that Barry pushed it aside and attributed any awkwardness between them to being in front of a group of people. Their closest friends and family, but still.

"Iris," was all his broken voice would croak out. His hands reached for her and solidly gripped her arms that hung limply by her sides. His left hand slid down her arm while his right gently cupped her face and tunneled gently into her soft hair. His brain may have been stalling out on the right words to express the joy he felt, but his hands knew exactly where they wanted to be.

Barry scanned her gorgeous features; his left hand joining his right to cup Iris's face when he noticed her bottom lip begin to quiver. "I'm back, baby," he gently pressed his forehead to hers and whispered hoarsely, "I'm here."

The close contact seemed to jolt Iris out of the stupor she had been in and she gasped brokenly before lifting up on the tips of her toes to wrap her arms around Barry's neck. "B-Barry," she sobbed into his neck, totally falling apart at the feel of Barry's arms wrapping tightly around her back and lifting her off her feet.

"Shhh," Barry nuzzled into Iris's neck and gently rocked her back and forth, "I know, baby, I know."

Somewhere in the corner of his mind Barry was aware that their friends and family had quietly filed out of Star Labs to give them privacy, but he wasn't about to from his girl.

Not now, not ever again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all who have left kind comments and kudos - it means a lot!!!!

That had been two weeks ago; the last time he had really felt intimately close to Iris.

Barry had held Iris for what could have been minutes or hours, he wasn’t sure. At some point, he had picked her up, sped her home, and attempted to tuck her into their bed; him right behind her. But she had protested his attempt to take care of her and pulled him to their couch. She sat facing him and peppered him with questions about his time in the Speedforce. Barry was just happy to be with her, so he sat happily in her presence and answered any an all questions she had into the wee hours of the morning.  
Barry had held off on going back to C.C.P.D as he wasn’t ready to explain his sudden and prolonged disappearance. He did, however, dive right back into working with Team Flash and protecting Central City. It was a major adjustment seeing Iris be at the helm of Star Labs, but he was incredibly proud of her. He had to work extra hard to hide his beaming smile every time he saw her working on a problem or giving advice to the team. He’d never imagined Iris being the core of Team Flash, but it made perfect sense as she had always been is center. 

It was wonderful to be back protecting his streets and even better to being doing it with his brother and best friend out there with him. He had never felt so supported facing down metahumans as he did having the new reiteration of Team Flash watching his back and walking side by side with him. Things had never been better.

At Team Flash.

Home was another story.

Barry could tell within the first full day or two of being back that something was wrong with Iris; something was wrong with them. 

He watched her. A lot. Mostly out of the joy of being able to finally do so, but also out of growing concern. It was apparent at Star Labs that she was fully present and giving all she had to the team. Still busy fighting crime with her “day job” it was also clear that C.C.P.N. was getting 100% from her in her journalism as well. She smiled easily and often at Cisco’s stupid jokes, and still enjoyed razzing her brother every chance she got. But with him, something was off. 

He could tell she was holding something back. When she smiled at him it never seemed to reach her beautiful eyes. Their silences were too heavy to be comfortable. That was when she allowed there to be silence between them. It seemed she was always asking questions or proposing activities and Barry couldn’t help but start to wonder if it was all in attempt not to be alone or open with him. 

The more time passed the heavier the silences between them became, the busier their days seemed to be, and the more Barry watched Iris; trying to work out every hypothesis in his mind as to what was happening between them. He had a feeling that his observance of her was starting to annoy her as she would catch him looking at her from time to time, sigh in seeming frustration, and move out of his range of sight. 

This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. The hard part was supposed to be over and he and Iris were supposed to be working on their happily ever after.

Which was hard to do when your partner seemed not to be able to stand you. 

Barry had delicately probed Joe for information hoping he would hold insight into what was happening with his daughter. 

“It was hard for her, Bear,” was all he managed to say, “you being gone was really hard.”

Barry had had to fight the urge to roll his eyes in frustration. Of course their time apart had been hard for her! It had been hard for him too!

“Just be patient with her,” was the answer he got from Cisco. He had noticed that Cisco and Iris seemed to have a deeper relationship that before, so had hoped his best friend could shed some light on what he was missing. 

Realizing that things were not going to resolve themselves, and though his friends and family were well-intentioned, they weren’t going to give him the answers he needed. He decided two weeks had been enough time to wait for Iris to come to him.

He would go to her.


End file.
